It’s a controversy because the Musician’s Union wishes for it to be one.
There are probably people who would pay money to play with the band. I don’t know this artist, or if she’s famous enough for that, but you can certainly imagine that there are plenty of musicians who could auction off a spot playing backup whatever at a concert for many thousands of dollars.
It seems odd to me that it would be ok to charge someone money to do something, and it would be ok to pay them money to do the same thing, but it’s somehow not ok to let them do that thing with no money exchanging hands.
I can see why such a thing might be against minimum wage laws, but I can’t figure out how it could be morally unjust.
Would it have value? I don’t have a job as a professional musician, or as anything else in the music industry, so it’s hard for me to judge what sounds good for a resume or not. I could see that “I toured with Amanda Palmer” or “I played horn on five songs on Amanda Palmer’s latest album” would look good on a resume. Or if it was a big concert at Madison Square Garden that required a lot of rehearsing and and the horn players had complicated parts to play, then that seems like it would look impressive and have value.
But it sounds like the volunteer musicians are just playing along with easy parts that they learn just right before the show. It sounds like it would be fun, and a cool story to tell your friends at a bar, but at least to a non-professional like me it doesn’t sound like a valuable addition to your resume.
What happens to your opinion when you realize that this didn’t happen?
Probably more for city-level fame. There are tons of musicians in Chicago who are known to other Chicago musicians who will probably never be known other than in the region, and this could prove worthwhile for them.
She is hiring professionals for certain more “important” gigs, like in New York.
Here’s her breakdown of what she spent it on, and here’s Steve Albini saying it’s bullshit. In his earlier post, he basically said that virtually every other band in history has somehow had the financial know-how to cobble together a tour without getting a million bucks up front. In begging for money, you’re admitting you’re less fiscally responsible that people such as GG Allin, who managed several traditionally financed tours. To reiterate: less responsible than GG Allin!
That makes sense. It shouldn’t be the main reason musicians volunteer for it, since it wouldn’t be a lot of exposure, but it’s still some.
Oh, I’m not sure how I feel about it then. I guess if the musicians in the non-important cities are okay with it I won’t get too indignant on their behalves, but that doesn’t seem cool to me.
Ha, that’s a good way to put it.
Meh. She’s not funding a tour, she’s funding an album and a tour, with Kickstarter rewards to pay for on top of that. I’m not a music man, but nothing she wrote seemed all that out of line.
Don’t those fossils realise Music with Rocks In wants to be free?
Strongly disagree. Every time a wide-eyed fan plays for free (or for “beers and hugs”), a professional musician who the lead act can damn well pay something for loses out on a paid gig. She should know better.
Yeah, so what? Every time someone says to me “Hey, do you feel like going to this concert?” and I say “Eh, not really”, a professional musician loses out on a ticket-selling opportunity. Is that a moral failing on my part?
I would like to nominate this post for the SDMB “Worst Analogy Attempt of 2012” award.
That statement is a load of crap and will not hold up to even the slightest scrutiny.
Go ahead, then, and spell out the difference and its significance.
Yes, I do believe that if someone wants to provide services for free which another person would have provided for a fee, there is no moral failing in my using the first person’s charity rather than purchasing the services of the second person, even if I could afford it. No one owes them a gig
No they aren’t, because Palmer never wanted professional musicians in the first place. She specifically wants amateur fans. The whole point of the performance is that she’s inviting regular schmoes up on stage to jam with her, and that’s frankly awesome.
Let me offer a better one. An old friend of mine, a moderately successful comedienne and character actress, mounted a one woman show in LA and held a “contest” for people to design a flyer of it. No money was offered, just “exposure” and a couple of tickets to the show.
Here was my reply: “I’m starting a new graphic arts firm and would like a bunch of comedians to submit five minute stand-up sets about how great my firm is. Sorry, I can’t pay, but I’d be happy to give the winner a cube of post-it notes with my logo on it!”
I’m a photographer by profession. This happens a lot with in my line of work, too. And you know what? I don’t give a shit. If there’s people out there willing to give their work away for free, have at it. You get what you pay for. I firmly believe that. And if you’re happy with amateur work, why should I care?
So you won the internship lottery, but that doesn’t mean the internship lottery is not a bad game for MOST people who play it. The people at the top of MLM schemes all tend to do well, that doesn’t mean they don’t royally screw most who participate in them.
Since when do I need your permission to develop my moral values, even those that demand interfering with others? I don’t need it. And will not ask for it.